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Mr. Jenkins and Daughter Use Helpful Shared Decision Making Aids

These stories are fictional, but are based on real Veterans' experiences.

Profile: Mr. Jenkins

Mr. Jenkins is an 88 year old WWII Veteran who served in the Navy.

He’s hard of hearing.

He has prostate cancer.

He’s had at least 3 TIAs (transient ischemic attacks or mini-strokes) in the past year that have caused increasing problems with mobility.

He’s taken a couple of nasty falls during the past year.

He seems to be depressed.

Mr. Jenkins’ support system:

He’s a snowbird who lives alone in Florida in the fall and winter. In the spring and summer months he lives with his daughter in New York, but she works full time.

He attends church in New York, but many of his long-time friends have moved or passed away.

He is connected to a group in New York called the ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out). They keep an eye out for each other.

Mr. Jenkins’ primary care provider suggested that he look at the online Guide to Long Term Care and then make an appointment with a social worker to review options.

These stories are fictional, but are based on real Veterans' experiences.

Step 1: What were his needs?

Mr. Jenkins daughter flew down to Florida and went with her father to the VA medical center to meet with a social worker. Together, they filled out the Shared Decision Making Worksheet.

For Step 1 they reviewed Mr. Jenkins’ needs.

These stories are fictional, but are based on real Veterans' experiences.

Step 2: Explore Options

Mr. Jenkins enjoyed spending part of the year in Florida and the other part of the year in New York. He knew that the time had come that he would need to live closer to family.

While in the social worker’s office they looked at the online Guide to Long Term Care.

These stories are fictional, but are based on real Veterans' experiences.

Step 3: Involve Others

Next, the social worker helped them think through the items in Step 3. Mr. Jenkins knew that some of his friends in Florida would be sad to know that this was his last winter there, but over the years many of his friends had to make similar decisions. He knew none of them would really disagree with his plans. He was glad his daughter was there to help him make arrangements to move some of his things from Florida back to New York and to plan an open house so he could say goodbye to his friends in Florida.

These stories are fictional, but are based on real Veterans' experiences.

Step 4: Take Action

Even though Mr. Jenkins had spoken before with his daughter about long term care options, he found sitting down with his daughter and a social worker and filling out the Shared Decision MakingWorksheet to be extremely helpful. It helped him think about some of the upcoming changes he would face. His daughter was glad to know about the Guide to Long Term Care as it listed options for long term care that her father may need in the future, such as Hospice and Palliative Care.

Next steps included making an appointment at the VA medical center in New York to review care needs and long term care choices with a primary care provider and meeting with a social worker to finalize plans. He knew that VA would not pay the monthly fees associated with living in an Assisted Living facility, but the social worker was pretty sure that he would be eligible for nurse visits, which VA would pay for.

2 ½ weeks later: Mr. Jenkins met with his doctor in New York and then he and his daughter met with a social worker. Mr. Jenkins visited 3 nearby Assisted Living facilities close to his daughter’s home and selected the one he liked best. The social worker referred Mr. Jenkins’ daughter to the caregiver support coordinator who gave her some helpful tips for dealing with her father’s depression.